The current situation of environmental pollution in rural areas of ethnic minorities

In some rural areas of ethnic minorities in Ha Giang, due to poor infrastructure and people's lack of awareness of environmental protection, people often act arbitrarily according to habits and customs. That is, raising livestock in a free-range manner, causing livestock waste to be scattered around houses and roads, giving off a smell when exposed to the sun, and being washed away when it rains, polluting water sources, creating an environment for disease to develop. The habit of keeping livestock under stilt houses causes serious pollution to the living environment of households.

The problem of rural environmental pollution in general and rural pollution in ethnic minority areas in particular is also due to people's unsafe use of agricultural plant protection chemicals (pesticides, fungicides, weed killers, etc.). One thing that is easy to see is that after spraying pesticides or weed killers, farmers wash the sprayer and dump the remaining chemicals anywhere without paying attention to ensuring the safety of the water source; packaging and bottles containing toxic chemicals are thrown away around the house, around ditches or on the fields, etc. That has directly affected the daily water source, leading to the emergence of diseases that people cannot immediately recognize.

Besides, in rural areas of ethnic minorities, waste is not collected properly and is thrown indiscriminately into the surrounding environment, combined with scattered livestock and poultry manure, making the living environment even more polluted.

Furthermore, in the process of farming, people have to come into direct contact with livestock and poultry manure. If there are no measures to raise, collect and treat livestock and poultry manure sources reasonably and scientifically, the problem of environmental pollution in rural mountainous areas today is becoming increasingly serious.

Raising awareness of ethnic minority people about the environment

The cause of environmental pollution in some ethnic minority areas is partly due to the backward customs, practices and habits of the people that directly have a negative impact on the environment. This is also the direct cause of the emergence and increase of diseases in ethnic minority areas, remote areas such as intestinal diseases, dengue fever, red eye, respiratory infections...

Meanwhile, Ha Giang province still faces many difficulties and cannot immediately solve the problem of environmental pollution in rural areas of ethnic minorities by collecting and treating waste using advanced methods. Therefore, the urgent measure at hand is to raise awareness of the living environment for people in ethnic minority areas.

In recent years, the authorities in the mountainous districts of the province have stepped up propaganda, mobilization and persuasion work. They have even had to apply strong measures such as fines and community service... to individuals and families who repeatedly violate rural environmental sanitation such as raising free-range livestock, keeping livestock under stilt houses, dumping excess pesticides into water sources, and littering the environment...

Since then, people have become more conscious, proactive and self-conscious in collecting waste, moving livestock pens away from their homes and not letting livestock roam freely. Through the propaganda and mobilization work of the authorities, mountainous districts have gradually improved the living environment and reduced diseases for communities in ethnic minority areas and mountainous rural areas of the province in the short and long term.